A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Friday, August 9, 2013

My post yesterday on General Sisi's possible ambitions has produced an unusually long, and inventive, comments thread for this blog. After a first comment that was a bit tongue in cheek but fairly straightforward, things started off in a whole new direction, for example:

While still a young lad, he used his slingshot in 1956 to stop an
Israeli tank in Suez. The rock he hurled went straight through the
driver's view slit causing the tank to swerve off the track, causing the
entrapment of several tanks behind it. This bold move and not
Eisenhower's intervention was the real cause of the end of the 1956
aggression . . .

While not technically yet in the military, he was the first Egyptian to
cross the canal. The true hero of 1973. Sadly, his accomplishments
were not honored because of a jealous Sadat eager to claim all glory
from the war . . .

So he studied at home at night by candlelight and wrote his lessons out
on a shaduff using fakhm. A practice that also developed his reflexes
and coordination skills.

Later when he was a young man he sold
bread to travelers at the Ramses train station. One day he discovered
that he had shortchanged a traveler 1 piastre. He walked all the way
from Cairo to Menufia to repay the man . . .

That's nothing.

While a young cadet at the Military Academy in
1973, Al Sisi analyzed the Vietnam War and prepared a plan that would
have ensured an American victory.

His letter was only delivered to the Pentagon in 1975 because of the incompetence of the American postal system.

And several more in this vein. Read them and, by all means, keep them coming. My readers are funnier than I am.

Our reluctant president for life is a man of many talents, but he is as well a modest man who does not brag.

Many do not know that he actually invented the Internet.

As a young lad in primary school, he sketched out the basic concept and some of the technical details one night at home. He intended to give this to his teacher the next day as part of a science assignment.

On his usual 50 kilometer walk to school, he ran into foreign tourists who were trying to find the Egyptian Museum. As a hospitable and generous Egyptian would, he insisted on personally taking them to the museum.

On the way, he dropped the Internet plans and a young Al Gore picked them up.

That's not the only invention that our kindly leader for life came up with.

In order to pay for his sister's wedding he sold the Winklevoss Brothers the idea for Facebook or Kitab al Wag as he called it for Fifty Pounds. They were visting on Spring break from Harvard.

As an honorable man, he never went back on his word on the sale or tried to extract money from them because to a man of honor his word is more important than mere money.

The General's idea came from his study of ancient Egyptian temple paintings. A story for another time of how he influenced a young Zahi Hawass choice of career and later guided him to make several important discoveries in the Valley of the Kings.

As usual MHH is not the father of two goods but of two lies. By now if there were any justice or freedom, he'd have changed his name to Kizbain.

No, our young General did not tell Nasser to build the High Dam. The decision to build the dam was made before the General was born. Rather he told Nasser "Yemen for the Arabs is like Afghanistan for the British". Proving that even at this young age, he had surpassed Nasser in understanding.

And finally, he was NOT sick in Jun 1967. He was standing guard for Egypt -not from his front porch - but from the Burg al Qahira. When he saw the Israeli planes take off from their bases, he rushed to the Nile Hilton where he called Abdel Hakeem. But like Nasser about Yemen, Abdel Hakeem refused to listen.

A man this wise is a rare treasure and that he is willing to serve his entire life as our President is the most generous act he could make.

"Michael Collins Dunn is the editor of The Middle East Journal. He also blogs. His latest posting summarizes a lot of material on the Iranian election and offers some sensible interpretation. If you are really interested in the Middle East, you should check him out regularly."— Gary Sick, Gary's Choices

"Since we’re not covering the Tunisian elections particularly well, and neither does Tunisian media, I’ll just point you over here. It’s a great post by MEI editor Michael Collins Dunn, who . . . clearly knows the country pretty well."— alle, Maghreb Politics Review

"I’ve followed Michael Collins Dunn over at the Middle East Institute’s blog since its beginning in January this year. Overall, it is one of the best blogs on Middle Eastern affairs. It is a selection of educated and manifestly knowledgeable ruminations of various aspects of Middle Eastern politics and international relations in the broadest sense."— davidroberts at The Gulf Blog

"Michael Collins Dunn, editor of the prestigious Middle East Journal, wrote an interesting 'Backgrounder' on the Berriane violence at his Middle East Institute Editor’s Blog. It is a strong piece, but imperfect (as all things are) . . ."— kal, The Moor Next DoorThis great video of Nasser posted on Michael Collins Dunn’s blog (which is one of my favorites incidentally) ...— Qifa Nabki